To Melt The Frozen Heart
by Haggath
Summary: A short romantic story between Vincent and Yuffie... This is my first attempt to write Yuffentine. Oneshot.


To Melt A Frozen Heart

By Lone Gunmen

Author's notes: Few nights ago, when I laid in my bed, thinking of… things,  
I stumbled upon an inspiration. I had recently read Sunshine in the Winter,  
where Vincent helps Yuffie in her illness. I thought: Could in work  
contrary? Could Yuffie melt Vincent's frozen heart? And thus, this story was  
born. I think that it's a cliché, but since it is my first attempt for a  
yuffentine and the first attempt to write anything clearly  
romantic/dramatic, I consider myself lucky if I get even three reviews. On top of that, English isn't my first language, and I had to ask for a beta-reader. Thank you so much Enkida! This story would've made many people who speak English as their first language cry in pain without your assistance.

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 and its characters were created by  
Squaresoft. I'm not making any money with this fic, I'm only clearing my  
thoughts with it.

* * *

Without further delay, let the story begin. Enjoy, if it's possible.

Vincent Valentine, the dark gunslinger of AVALANCHE, was sitting in Icicle  
Inn's lobby. The whole inn was dark since it was way past midnight, and all  
other members of Avalanche were sleeping in upstairs. In front of Vincent  
stood a table with a lit candle, a small piece of paper and an envelope on  
it. Vincent just sat there, staring into the candle and playing with the  
pencil in his hand: A gesture of nervousness.

Vincent Valentine had a problem. For past few months while he had been  
travelling with AVALANCHE, fighting against Shinra and chasing Sephiroth,  
one person had been paying attention to him more than anyone else. While he  
had managed to convince rest of the group with his monotone voice,  
expressionless face and his firm stare that he wanted to be left alone,  
there was always that particular ninja trying to cheer him up, trying to  
make him talk, inquiring about his past and calling him nicknames which she  
apparently found funny.

Yuffie Kisaragi.

His first impression of Yuffie was a scared teenager, when she had lifted  
the lid of his coffin, screaming 'Vampire' on top of her lungs. He soon  
learned that she wasn't scared, but something much, much worse. The pilot  
Cid and the founder of AVALANCHE Barret called her 'Brat', something what  
Vincent considered somewhat insulting, but found it fitting nonetheless.

He snorted in amusement when he thought of those first weeks when Yuffie had  
gotten rid of her fear. She had called him first 'Bloodsucker' but after he had very emphatically exclaimed to her that he was not a vampire -through gritted teeth and  
barely controlling himself- she had let go of that nickname. Since then, he  
had been 'Vinnie'. True, she had annoyed him, but he had hoped that she  
would've become bored and left him alone, just like rest of the group. He  
should've known not to trust in hope, as Yuffie had been pestering him ever  
since.

However, as the weeks had passed, he had grown to bear Yuffie's presence and  
her attempts to make Vincent into a social person. He learned not to  
ignore her, but to bear her, and even on some level enjoy her endless  
babbling and answer to some of the most innocent, harmless questions. This  
of course encouraged Yuffie to try harder. Vincent felt that he was like  
some exotic fruit with hard shell which Yuffie was eagerly trying to break  
so that she could take a peek inside of him.

'It's normal. Every man has need of some kind of social interaction. That  
is why I stand her, it is nothing more.' he had explained to himself back  
then, when Yuffie had once again ran away -to annoy Cid, no doubt- and  
flashed him a quick, mischievous smile. At that moment, Vincent Valentine's  
first shell had been crushed.

From that point on, Yuffie had been talking more about herself than asking  
Vincent questions. At first Vincent hadn't understood what the reason for  
her sudden openness was, but when he listened the young materia hunter  
tell about her past, it had all cleared up to him. 'This girl looks me as  
her confidante. She knows that I won't tell a soul what she tells me.'  
Vincent had been cursing his misfortune, but said nothing, knowing that  
Yuffie couldn't find anyone else to whom she could trust the story of her  
life.

He had learned that Yuffie's mother, Sakura, had died to cancer when Yuffie  
was only six years old. She never had many friends, and when her mother  
died, she lost even those few. Her father had been her supporter and best  
friend for six years since then, but when the mighty Wutai lost the war to  
Shinra he seemed to fall into some sort of apathy, not caring much of his  
daughter or his once-so-mighty kingdom. And so, as soon as Yuffie had  
proven herself strong, fast and skilled enough -when she had turned  
fourteen- he had sent her on the quest to hunt and steal materia.

Yuffie's voice had been breaking up since the death of her mother, but she  
had managed, strangely enough, to tell the story to the end, to the point  
where she had bumped into Cloud and others. After she had finished it, she  
broke out sobbing. As Vincent had watched Yuffie sob, his feelings had been  
in terrible turmoil: Part of him had wanted to hug her, press her tiny form  
against his body, stroke her hair and whisper comforting words into her ear,  
while part of him had screamed that such feelings were wrong, and not  
allowed for a monster like him.

After struggling with his feelings, Vincent had decided to throw all the  
logic into the wind, and done what his heart told him to do. He had pulled  
the shaking and sobbing Yuffie to his strong yet gentle embrace. Eventually,  
Yuffie had fallen asleep, and Vincent had carried her back to their camp. He  
had got curious glances from his companions, but simply ignored them. When  
carefully lowering Yuffie on her sleeping bag, he had seen her sweet,  
innocent smile. Her short chocolate-brown hair falling on her face, one tear  
glimmering on her cheek in the dim light of stars, making her look...

'Like a petite angel.' Vincent had thought. At that night, something inside  
of him was reborn, crushing one more shell of his impenetrable armor of  
sorrow.

From that night on, they hadn't talked so much. Or more accurately, Yuffie  
hadn't been talking so much. She just tagged along with Vincent. While Cloud  
was splitting AVALANCHE into groups, he had always put Vincent and Yuffie  
on the same team, usually alone, and gave them quieter places to explore.  
Vincent hadn't understood why, and when he wondered out loud, Yuffie's  
cheeks had turned bright red. Vincent had been polite enough not to ask more  
questions, although Yuffie had clearly been hiding something.

Vincent hadn't been able to find satisfying answers to the question of why  
he was letting the young ninja to be so close to him. He had already  
abandoned the idea of a simple 'need for social interaction.' because he  
had gained enough of it to last for at least a decade. Well, at least in  
Vincent's standard. The only decent conclusion he had came upon was that he  
didn't want to break her heart. Everybody else in AVALANCHE didn't show any  
respect towards her except for Tifa, but Vincent had assumed that it was  
only the sisterhood which every woman felt toward other after travelling  
hundreds of kilometres with her. Little had Vincent known, Yuffie's and Tifa's friendship  
was deeper than he could imagine, and Yuffie had told Tifa everything, even  
that what was happening between her and Vincent, although unwillingly.

Because of Yuffie's sudden openness and urge to tell about her past,  
Vincent considered comforting this little girl no longer a sin, but more  
of a moral duty. And so, Vincent had opened to Yuffie, telling her about  
his past in turn, from his happy childhood in Wutai, his not-so-happy life  
in Midgar when he had moved there after his parents' assassinations, his  
life as a Turk, all the way to his first love and that fateful night when  
he decided to attack Hojo in the Shinra mansion basement.

'But, I failed.' Vincent had explained while they had been in Gast's lab in  
Icicle village. 'Hojo paralyzed me and operated on me, giving this,' he  
pointed his claw with his good hand, 'these,' he pointed his blood-red eyes,  
'and these demons inside of me and in return, stealing my humanity.' He  
sighed. 'But, after lying in that coffin, I realized that this was my  
punishment. This was my punishment of not being able to save two poor souls  
from Hojo and Jenova.'

'Two?' was all that Yuffie had quietly asked. He had nodded.

'Lucrecia… And Sephiroth.' he had closed his eyes, fighting against his  
emotions. But still, one single tear had rolled down his cheek. He had felt  
a tiny finger gently wiping it away. And as he had opened his eyes, Yuffie  
had been there, her face mere inches from his own. She had a gentle smile on  
her face, sorrow, the urge to comfort and happiness mixing in it, a smile  
which made his spirit rise.

'Vincent,' she had begun, 'there is no need for you to judge yourself.  
Lucrecia did what she felt right, although that choice clearly wasn't the  
right one. When you judge yourself, it makes more than just yourself  
miserable. Two souls suffer.' she said comfortingly. This time it had  
been Vincent's turn to ask:

'Two?'

Yuffie had nodded.

'You…' she had whispered, '…and me.' With that, she had given Vincent a  
light kiss on the lips and had run away from Gast's house, leaving confused  
Vincent to struggle with his emotions.

And thus, Vincent's third shell was broken.

But there was one more to go, one more barrier to be crushed. Vincent knew,  
however, that the young ninja couldn't break that last shell, and her heart  
would fall apart when she realized that.

That was why he was in the Icicle inn's lobby in the middle of the night,  
desperately trying to find the right words to tell this to Yuffie. Suddenly,  
inspiration hit him, and he started to write on the paper.

After ten minutes of writing, Vincent stopped, read through the letter few  
times, and decided that it was good enough. He put the letter into the  
envelope, wrote "Yuffie Kisaragi" on it and gave it to front desk so that  
Yuffie would find it in the morning.

After this, he blew out the candle, and without turning back, without  
reminiscing, walked out from the inn and into a raging blizzard, heading  
for the mountains.

* * *

Yuffie woke up early that morning, not knowing why. She lay in the bed,  
trying to fall back to sleep, but to no avail. Something was nagging her,  
not letting her to ignore it. Yuffie had a feeling that something was  
terribly wrong. She got dressed and walked downstairs, wanting to grab some  
breakfast so that the feeling would pass. Tifa was already awake, sipping  
tea and reading a newspaper at one of the tables. She made a gesture to  
Yuffie so that the young girl could see her. Yuffie sat on a chair  
opposite of the martial artist. Tifa noticed immediately that something was wrong  
with Yuffie.

"What's wrong Yuffs?" she asked, concerned. "You've never gotten up this  
early." Yuffie shifted uncomfortably before answering:

"I dunno Teef. Something woke me up." Tifa raised an eyebrow. "I have a  
feeling that something is very wrong. It kept me from falling asleep again."  
Normally, Tifa would've just said that Yuffie had probably eaten a bug or  
something, but now she could see that the ninja was dead serious. Tifa pulled out an envelope from behind the newspaper she had been reading and handed it to a surprised Yuffie.

"I found this at the reception at this morning. Since it wasn't sealed, I  
had to fight the urge to open it. I succeeded, since I thought it might be  
something very personal." Yuffie just stared at her name which was written  
on the envelope with beautiful handwriting. Tifa's voice brought her back  
to reality: "Aren't you gonna read it?" Yuffie shot a death glare at Tifa  
which caused her to giggle, before she took the letter out from the  
envelope.

Yuffie's expression was curious at first, but soon she blushed and looked  
embarrassed. Then her face lost all its color, and her expression changed to  
pure fear and indescribable regret. "Yuffie!" Tifa shouted as her friend dashed out from the Inn toward the Highwind. Tifa picked up the letter which Yuffie had dropped.

_Dear Yuffie_, it read.

_For these past months while we've been travelling with AVALANCHE, I can't  
help noticing that we've become very close. For those first weeks, I  
thought I would go insane because of your… "lively" spirit. But, that  
didn't happen, and I am as sane as I was at the day I met you. However,  
something must've happened when we, nearly opposites of each other,  
interacted. I don't know how my presence has affected to you, Yuffie, but  
your warm laughter, your crying, your lively yet fragile personality has  
affected to me._

_Something inside of me is waking, something that was sealed there long ago  
for a good reason. Your words cannot wash away all my guilt, Yuffie  
Kisaragi._

_I am a monster. Time would pass, and if you stayed at my side constantly,  
your heart would break. That is why I must leave._

_Now, you might not understand these words, but after some time, you will._

_Be happy, Yuffie Kisaragi._

_Vincent Valentine_

Tifa didn't understand. She knew that Yuffie and Vincent had been close ever  
since they found Vincent, but this? She read it through again, and a single  
line caught her attention.

Something inside of me is waking, something that was sealed there long ago  
for a good reason.

What could it be? When it was about Vincent, it could be any emotion. Fear, a sense of humor, greed. Tifa gasped when the thought crossed her mind.

'Love?'

She heard a familiar roar of engines coming from outside, and as she ran  
out, she saw Highwind heading toward the mountains. She pressed the letter  
against her chest, and prayed that Yuffie would find Vincent alive.

* * *

Yuffie ran through the Icicle village toward the Highwind which had landed  
to the edge of village. She knew that Cid would be in there, and she needed  
the Highwind to find Vincent. The rope ladders were down and she swiftly  
climbed to the outer deck of Highwind and started to bang the door which led  
inside. "Open up, damnit!!" she shouted. After banging on the door for a  
while, a crew member came to open it and asked what she was doing.

"I need to find Cid and fast!"

"Captain Cid is sleeping on the bridge, but I'd recommend that you'll wait  
'till he wakes up. He's a bit edgy if someone wakes him up before 12 am."  
the crew member, a young boy explained to her. She just ran past him,  
shouting that Cid was always edgy no matter what time it was.

As she reached the bridge, she saw Cid sleeping on a chair next to the  
controls, a blanket wrapped around him. In one corner of the blanket was a  
knitted text: From Shera. Normally, Yuffie would've laughed her ass off and  
told everybody about it, but now she barely noticed it. She grabbed the  
pilot's shoulders and started to shake him, yelling him at the same time.

"Wake up, you old fart, I need you!" Cid whole-heartedly cursed before  
opening his eyes and searching for who the hell had the nerve to wake him  
up like this.

"Brat! What the hell are you doing?!"

"I need you to pilot the Highwind! Vincent has left and is probably heading  
to the mountains!" again Cid let out a long line of curses.

"You woke me up because of that! #§&! Vincent's a #¤&( ) vampire! He can  
survive in any kind of weather!" Yuffie was getting really angry to the old  
pilot.

"Hello, have you looked the thermometer?! It's well below freezing now and he probably left in  
night so that no one could see him! And if your age is already starting to  
effect to your hearing, there was a friggin' snowstorm last night! Now, get  
up and head to the mountains or else I'm gonna thrust your spear so far up  
your ass that it'll come out of your nose!  
" Cid was awake now, and could see that Yuffie was dead serious.

"£$&! Why didn't you say so?!" Cid jumped off from his  
chair and ran to the controls. He activated the microphone and started to  
yell in it.

"Whole #¤(/() crew, attention! Get your sorry ass up! We're ascending in  
thirty seconds and are going to rescue the vampire from freezing his ass  
off! So everyone get to the outer deck and start to look for anything  
suspicious in this god-forsaken frozen wasteland! Everyone who isn't on the  
outer deck when we're in air is going to have a one-way ticket down! Over!"  
Cid lifted a cigarette to his lips and lit it. He inhaled the smoke,  
enjoying the nicotine rushing to his blood system and turned to Yuffie.

"So, what makes you to be the goddamn hero? Why it is you ordering me to  
search for the Vamp-boy?" Yuffie shrugged, trying to make it sound like she  
wouldn't have really been interested in finding Vincent.

"I was the only one awake. Well, Teef was awake too but she would've just  
gone to wake up Cloud and that would've taken too long. Besides…" she was  
cut as Cid yelled to the microphone.

"Okay, ascending in five.." he pressed few buttons in the control panel, and  
the engines started to roar, "..four, three, two, one, ZERO!" he pushed a  
big lever close to the control panel. Yuffie fell to the bridge due to her  
sudden lost of her balance, but quickly rose back to her feet. "What were  
you going to say Brat?" Yuffie walked in front of the window and started to  
look for Vincent.

"Nothing…" she replied. Cid mumbled some cuss words under his breath.

"Fine. But remember, if you hurl on the bridge, you'll clean it up! Kids  
these days…. No respect…"

Little did Cid know, Yuffie couldn't throw up this time. Something far worse  
feeling kept her in its icy grip. Fear. Fear that Vincent could be… dead.  
She didn't want to think of such a possibility, and pushed it out from her  
mind, thinking of Vincent's letter.

I don't know how my presence has affected to you, Yuffie, but your warm  
laughter, your crying, your lively yet fragile personality has affected to  
me.

Since she had seen Vincent and learned a few things about him, she had felt  
a strong urge to find out what kind of person he was. True, one could say  
that he was a dark, empty and cold person after only looking at or  
spending a few hours with him. But still, Yuffie had been certain that there  
was something more, something positive in him. And thus, Yuffie had turned  
her attention to this lone, mysterious gunslinger. While Tifa and Aeris  
had been fighting from Cloud, she tried to get Vincent open a little bit and make him talk. After weeks of stubborn trying, she had finally succeeded in the impossible. She had made Vincent Valentine talk by his own  
free will. Well, nearly his own free will.

However, after spending time with him, she somehow managed to develop a  
crush on him. She ignored the feeling, and thought it would've disappeared  
like it did with Cloud. It did not, however, and as the weeks passed, she no  
longer looked at Vincent as a scary vampire, but as a friend. A very  
close one, in fact. She trusted him so much that she even told him about  
her past, about all the sorrow and joy she had gone through. And when she  
had began crying, she had thought that Vincent would just ignore her and  
walk away, but she had been wrong. Oh, she had blessed Leviathan that she  
had been wrong.

Vincent had pulled her close to him, offering warmth, words of comfort and a  
shoulder to cry on. That was how Yuffie Kisaragi realized that she loved  
Vincent Valentine, and would love him no matter what happened.

After that, she had tried to get some sort of reaction from Vincent, to  
see if he would feel the same way about her. Weeks had passed, and Vincent  
started to open up more and more to Yuffie, but she still hadn't been able  
to find out whether Vincent loved her or not. So Yuffie had given up, and  
decided to make the second move by herself: Confessing her love to Vincent.  
Of course, she could not just go and say it, but had to do it  
dramatically. After waiting for the right moment for what had seemed like  
an eternity -but what was in reality only three days- she had found a  
perfect opportunity, and hadn't wasted it.

She had kissed Vincent Valentine on the lips.

'I can't believe I actually found courage to do it!' she had exclaimed in  
her mind while running back to the Icicle inn and straight to her bed,  
barely succeeding in containing her euphoria.

She had been excited to know what Vincent's reaction might be the next  
day, but she hadn't expected him to escape from her. Then it all had  
occurred to her while she had read his letter over again.

'How can I be so stupid!?' she blamed herself and kicked herself mentally.  
'Vinnie must've been living through hell because of me! Cid and Barret are  
totally right about me, I'm a selfish, annoying little brat!' Tears started  
to roll down her cheeks. 'Just because I wanted somebody to be close to me,  
I made Vinnie suicidal! Now I know how he feels. I've made a poor soul  
miserable.' Somehow, she managed to find courage to push all these thoughts  
back and stop the tears from flowing down her face. She wiped her face dry  
with the back of her hand.

'If, no, WHEN I find Vincent, he probably won't want to even look at me.

Maybe he'll want me as far away from him as possible, but I can accept  
that. That will be my punishment.' She raised her head so that she could see  
the sunrise. It was amazing at this height: Sun shining over the mountains,  
over the never-ending snowfields, making them sparkle like a great hand had  
sprinkled small diamonds all over them. She felt that Vincent would love  
this scenery.

'But I will accept that. As long as I know that Vincent is alive and safe, my life has true joy in  
it.' She closed her eyes as tears started to flow again. This time, she  
didn't feel the need to wipe them away. They fell from her chin to the cold  
floor of Highwind's bridge. Tears of sorrow, tears of unspoken prayer.

Tears of love.

Yuffie started to carefully scan the area with her gaze, looking for  
anything reminding her of Vincent.

* * *

Vincent Valentine struggled against the blizzard to go forward. He didn't  
feel the cold anymore, nor his fingers or toes. But still, he was able to  
walk onwards, challenging and insulting the laws of nature with each step.

Thoughts were swirling in his head. That was how it had always been.  
Thoughts, memories of pain and loss had always swirled in his head. He had  
managed to stay sane with all his painful memories, but hadn't been able to  
make any more progress. Now there were even more thoughts, new memories.  
Memories of that chocolate-haired little girl.

Vincent growled in irritation, once again he had managed to lure one more  
soul into oblivion. 'No.' he thought, 'Never again anymore.' A little voice  
in the back of his mind noted that he had thought of those exact same words  
after he had learned that Lucrecia was dead. 'This time,' he growled, 'I'll  
make sure it isn't possible to happen again. Even though it means leaving  
this mortal coil, but perhaps that is best for everyone.' He absentmindedly  
noticed that he was climbing up the slope of the mountain with his bare  
hands.

'It also means leaving that little ninja all alone to this empty, cruel  
world.' The voice once again noted. The voice wasn't little anymore, it  
seemed that it had… Gained strength from his inner struggling, pain, sorrow  
and guilt. It was familiar.

'She has Tifa.' He thought back. This caused the voice to snicker.

'Only one person, and even that one is drifting away from her, toward the  
opposite sex, toward her blond-haired knight with huge sword.' There was  
something off-color in the voice's last sentence, but Vincent couldn't quite  
catch it.

'Cloud.' He thought, and felt the voice nodding.

'Besides that Vincent, you've not only led a friend down, but you've also  
betrayed the only person who has sincerely loved you! Talk about killing two  
birds with one stone!' the voice was laughing with a mean, demonic laugh,  
but that didn't seem important anymore. He just realized that it was true;  
Yuffie had loved him more than anything. That was why she always had been  
trying to make Vincent come out from his shell, trying to convince him that  
life was actually worth living. And he had let her down. The voice laughed  
even louder.

'Yes! You're a monster! You destroy everything around you! You are worth  
nothing! You are a pathetic excuse for life… Vinnie!!!' Now he recognized  
the voice:

"Chaos." He mumbled out loud, but the demon only laughed. He had finally  
reached the flat top of the mountain, and the blizzard was starting to calm.  
He could see the first rays of sunlight, creeping from the horizon.

But none of that mattered anymore. He was a monster, a being with no reason  
or any right to live. He had to die.

And so, Vincent Valentine fell to the cold snow face first, Chaos' demonic  
laugh filling his ears when his world went black...

* * *

Vincent woke in a dark, warm place. He tried to examine his surroundings,  
but to no avail. Even his improved vision couldn't make out anything from  
this darkness.

'So,' he thought, 'this is what is like to die.' After a minute of  
pondering, he came to a conclusion. 'Better than living, I expected  
something much worse.' Suddenly he felt something: A presence, coming closer  
to him. A very familiar presence, in fact. As it came closer, Vincent was  
able to recognize it, or her.

"Lucrecia." he murmured. He noticed that he was also nothing more than a  
presence without any solid body, only his mind awake. He didn't know how,  
but his spirit managed to entangle itself with Lucrecia's in an action  
which resembled hugging. "My Lucrecia." She said nothing, nor did Vincent  
for a long time. Words just weren't necessary between them. However, after  
'hugging' Lucrecia for awhile, he felt the need to explain his actions.

"I'm so sorry I have caused you so much sorrow with my actions. I have destroyed one more innocent life. I have disgraced you…" Vincent confessed, waiting for Lucrecia's reply. It came out with that melodic voice which he had loved so much.

"True, you have caused me much sorrow and pain, Vincent, but not the way you think. You hurt me when you slept thirty years in that coffin, torturing yourself with nightmares and blaming yourself with what happened in the Shinra mansion." She sighed."When Cloud and the others found you in the basement, I hoped that you would start to live a normal life again. But no, you still kept torturing yourself with things you couldn't have changed."

Vincent was silent. He didn't know what to say. Lucrecia pressed forward.

"Then my flame of hope was once again lit, as that young girl, Yuffie, started paying attention to you. It was then that it really seemed that you would change." She sighed again. And now you are here, dead. You were so close to finding meaning in your life; you were so close to finding love!" Vincent could see that Lucrecia was angry at him, and he didn't feel surprised. He, too, was angry with himself. But because of this…? Vincent Valentine realized that he had made the biggest mistake in his life. He tried to escape the consequences by condemning himself.

"I'm a monster. Monsters are not capable of loving. It was suitable for me to die before I hurt…" He was cut down short by an extremely angry Lucrecia.

"Vincent Valentine, you stop that-- that-- that BULLSHIT right away!" He was stunned, as he had never imagined Lucrecia would ever curse in her entire life. Well, technically she hadn't, but still.

"That is the same crap I saw you feed to yourself for thirty years! You are NOT a monster! You ARE capable of loving! You haven't done ANYTHING wrong!" Lucrecia would've struggled to control her anger if she would've been alive. "The main reason why you've been so unhappy for these past thirty years was that you thought you'd done something horrible, and that you had to be punished because of it. Well hear my words, Vincent Valentine, I hereby declare you not guilty! Your punishment for staying thirty years in that coffin shall be to quest to find happiness."

Vincent was stunned "at her words. Not only because they had been fiercely said, and Lucrecia had always been very calm person, but also because of the truth in them. 'Thirty years… Thirty years down the drain…' He had held Lucrecia close all this time. After calming down a little, Lucrecia spoke in a gentler tone.

"Vincent, I don't want you to mourn because of me. Your torture isn't bringing me back nor negating my choice. I want you to find a new love, marry her, and have plenty of kids. I want you to LIVE! I can't do it anymore, but you still have the chance." She sensed an unspoken question in Vincent's mind.

"Then you---you..." 'Don't love me anymore?' He finished mentally. And she laughed whole-heartedly at Vincent's foolishness, the laugh reminding him of Yuffie.

"My silly, silly, Valentine. There will always be a special place in my heart for you, and I know that I will always stay in your heart." Suddenly Vincent felt a disturbance, and the place didn't seem so black anymore, more like grey. He heard someone shouting.

"What is that?" He asked, and Lucrecia smiled as she and Vincent parted.

"I believe it's a sign. You must go." With that, she embraced Vincent once more and gave him something which felt like a kiss. "Farewell, my love." she murmured and started to float away from him.

"Farewell… Lucrecia…" He said, before he was dragged away from death by invisible hands.

* * *

"There he is!" Yuffie shouted as she noticed a black figure lying on top of a mountain, its burgundy cloak swirling in the snow like a signal flag. Stop so I can jump on that mountain and drag Vincent back here." She ordered Cid, who cursed in reply.

"Doing my ¤&#$£ best here!" But Yuffie was already on her way to the outer deck.

As she reached it, she jumped without hesitation to the mountaintop from while she was still about six metres above it. Luckily for her, the snow was deep, and although she sank in the snow to her hip, she managed to stay uninjured. She wouldn't have stopped even if she would've been hurt, though, because there was only one thought burning in the back of her mind:

'Vincent has to be alive! I cant ever forgive myself if he's hurt or worse.' She intentionally avoided using the word 'Dead'. Her world seemed to fall apart when she reached Vincent and turned him on his back. His lips were blue and he wasn't breathing. Yuffie could tell that he had been frozen for hours. She felt like crying, but then her stubborn nature kicked in and she gritted her teeth and started to hit Vincent's face repeatedly with her palm.

"Come on Vinnie! Wake up!" She yelled in frustration between her hits. "You arent going to the light or anything like that!" After beating his face for awhile, she gave up, and accepted the fact: Vincent Valentine was dead, frozen because of her. She started to cry and took the frozen man to her embrace.

"Don't leave me, Vincent." She whispered into his ear. No response. "I don't have anybody else expect you." No response. "I love you." No response. Yuffie started to cry even louder and hugged Vincent's frozen corpse tighter.

Suddenly she felt Vincent start to move slightly. At first she thought that she had imagined it, but when it happened again, wild hope came to life in her eyes. Vincent was moving his lips, trying to make out words with his frozen mouth.

"Yuf… fie…" was all he managed to spit out, but that was enough for Yuffie. She grabbed him below the shoulders and started to drag the frozen gunslinger as fast as possible toward the Highwind, shouting to the crew members to help her.

* * *

"So you're saying that he walked into the blizzard, climbed on top of a mountain with his bare hands, froze to death, then started to speak and is now back with the living?" Vincent heard an old, surprised voice talking. Someone must've nodded, as the man continued. "Most astounding, astounding indeed!" Vincent shifted uncomfortably and heard someone saying:

"Look, he's awake!" Tifa. As Vincent opened his eyes, he saw all the members of AVALANCHE looking at him with surprise and worry. There was also an old, bald man with snow-white beard standing next to his bed in a white coat. 'Must be the local doctor.' Vincent thought.

"How are you feeling, young man?" The doctor asked him.

"…Exhausted." He answered in his monotone voice. Then he looked around the room, trying to find out where he was. "Where am I?" The doctor chuckled.

"Why, you're in the Icicle inn of course. But I wouldn't worry about your current location; I'd just thank Shiva that you're even alive!" Then he took on a more official tone of voice." From what I've just heard and seen, you were in a very bad state of hypothermia just an hour ago. I wouldn't have expected you to wake up for days! And now you wake up and say that you're only feeling exhausted. Astounding!" The doctor repeated once again. "You're very special -and lucky- man, Mr. Valentine." As the doctor finished, he received a death glare from Yuffie. This caused him to lose his balance and made him even more uncertain.

"Umm… for your recovery, I order you to stay bed for three days so that your body temperature returns to normal. I'd order full week for any normal person…" He was cut down by Yuffie's glare once more, still totally oblivious as to why was she glaring him. "…Right." He started to put his few belongings to his handbag, and took his coat from the coat rack and put it on. After picking up his medicine case in his left hand, he offered his right hand to Vincent. "Best of luck now, young man." the doctor said kindly while shaking Vincent's hand.

"Thank you doctor."Vincent replied. This caused doctor immediately to protest.

"Oh, don't thank me, I 'hardly did anything. Thank your friends for 'going after you 'on the snowfields." With this, they 'released hands and doctor walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him and letting an awkward silence fall. Cid was the first one to break it.

"Next time when you do some stupid shit like that, we ain't coming after you. So don't even #¤&$£ think about it! #¤&!" A small smile crept to one corner of Vincent's mouth because of Cid's words.

"You have my word that I will not commit such an action again, Cid." He could see that Cid's mouth was open from surprise, the cigarette nearly dropping.

"Holy &¤#£ shit! Did you hear that? Vampire made the longest speech of his life! And he #&¤£$ smiled!" Suddenly Vincent realized that he no longer had the collar of his cloak to prevent his emotions from being seen. He blushed. Only a little, but it still was a blush. Another long line of curses came from Cid and Barret because of it. At this point, Tifa came to the rescue, saying:

"Okay, everyone. I think it's time to leave the patient to rest. Everybody out!" Tifa started to push everybody out from the room. Everybody expect Yuffie. Cait Sith noticed this, and started to complain about it while his tiny robotic body was pushed through the doorway.

"Aww, Boobs. Why does Yuffie get to stay?!" Vincent heard an angry growl coming out of Barret and soon heard him saying.

"That's because she saved Vincent's skinny ass from freezin'. Now shu' up you dam' fool cat! And stop calling Teef Boobs!" Vincent smirked to this. Tifa managed to push everyone out from the room and left last, after winking at Yuffie who shot Tifa with her patented leave-or-I-will-rip-your-heart-out-from-your-ass-glare. Tifa laughed and shut the door, which Yuffie locked after her, removing the key. She then sat on a chair next to Vincent's bed and stared into his blood-red eyes. And in turn, he gazed into her pearl-grey ones. Then Yuffie couldn't control herself longer, and she broke out sobbing.

"Yuffie…" Vincent tried to ease her discomfort, but he didn't have the chance to talk before Yuffie started.

"I-I'm s-s-so s-s-sorry Vinnie!" She managed to sputter out between her sobs. "These two months must've been like hell to you!"

"Yuffie…" He tried, but to no avail.

"It was all just a silly girls dream! My selfish, arrogant little dream. I didn't think of the consequences before it was too late and by then, you had already tried to commit suicide!" She blamed herself, and started to sob again. After waiting for a while, he decided to try again.

"Yuffie…" But no.

"I know that my presence must cause you a lot of pain. I'll ask Cloud if I could leave today so that it'll be easier for you." Vincent gave up his trying to make Yuffie hear what he had to say. So instead, he lifted her chin up gently with his claw so that he could look into Yuffie's eyes.

"Yuffie, don't cry." He gently said, emotion thick in his voice, but he didn't care. He used his good hand to wipe the tears away from Yuffie's face. "It hurts me to see you cry. As he stared deep into those grey eyes, she saw hundreds of emotions flashing in their depths. Happiness, disbelief and budding hope, to mention few.

"Although your tear only emphasize your angelic beauty, I don't wish to see them on your face." Vincent took a deep breath, warming himself up. "The reason why I fled was because I was afraid, afraid of these new -but still old- feelings in my heart. I was afraid that I'd lose something irreplaceable inside of me." He smiled to Yuffie. "Now I understand that I didn't lose anything. I just had to let something from my past go, and that doesn't necessarily have to be bad." Yuffie's grey eyes were wide with disbelief. 'Now is the time.' He thought, and opened his mouth to say those words.

"Yuffie, I-" Time itself seemed to freeze, as Vincent saw the final barrier. It was black as a night, and it towered over Vincent. "My heart's night…' He thought. 'I can't do this. I can't bring this barrier down. I have failed you again, Lucrecia.' And Vincent's heart sank deep, deep, deep... But then he heard it: A quiet, mean laugh.

'That's right Vincent. You have failed again. You will never feel love anymore. I guarantee it.' At the demons last remark, the dark gunman realized what this barrier was. It was twisted combination of his fears and Chaos' demonic powers. When he realized this, it also occurred to him how he could break it.

He gathered all his memories from Yuffie, from her laughter, from her will of life, from her smile, from her beauty, and gathered them dearly to himself. This was his only weapon against his self-doubts and recriminations: Yuffie. 'NO!' Chaos protested, but too late. Vincent had already hit the barrier with his memories of the sweet young ninja, and it worked.

Vincent could almost see it, the black barrier falling into pieces, allowing the chance for a new beginning to come to his heart. After the ink-black night which had lasted for over thirty years, morning had finally come.

Yuffie had crushed his final shell, although she didn't knew it yet.

Vincent found himself gazing to the stormy grey eyes which longed for his words. And finally, he said those words.

"I love you." With those words, he felt waves of relief and satisfaction washing over every cell of his body, making him feel warm all over. Apparently, those same waves hit Yuffie, because there was overwhelming joy in her eyes. Gleefully, she jumped on top of Vincent, trapping him to a tight embrace and kissing him on the lips. Vincent wrapped his own arms around Yuffie, and returned the kiss. It was a long, passionate kiss and made them both gasp for air when their lips parted. Yuffie smiled that mischievous oh-so-Yuffie smile and said:

"If it didn't occur to you, I love you too." Then her face went serious, and she finished: "More than anything in this world." And then they kissed again.

* * *

The rest of the AVALANCHE had been waiting in the hallway; everyones' ears  
pressed against the door while Tifa was peeking through keyhole to find out  
just what was Yuffie going to say to Vincent. She had been informing rest  
of the gang of what they were doing.

"Oh!" Tifa whispered, tears of joy coming to her eyes.

"What?" Everybody asked.

"They're kissing." Tifa said, and a gasp passed through them all. She watched through a keyhole for a little longer, rest of the AVALANCHE anxiously waiting something to happen. Then Tifa raised her head to the normal level, hitting Barret under the jaw, who let out a long line of suppressed curses, on the way up.

"Okay guys, I think that's enough voyeurism for this month." She said, wanting to give Vincent and Yuffie some peace.

The members of  
AVALANCHE grumbled in irritation, but walked away from the hallway to  
mind their own business: Cid and Barret heading to the bar, Nanaki going to  
his room and Cait Sith going outside to entertain people. When everybody  
except Cloud was gone, Tifa nodded, satisfied, and went downstairs to see if  
there was some tea, Cloud following her. When they got downstairs, Cloud  
walked to her side.

"I never would've guessed… that Vincent and Yuffie…" The swordsman said, shocked. Tifa shrugged.

"Well, I guess that everybody has need for love." she said, and glared Cloud sharply. "EVERYBODY." She repeated, emphasizing the word. Cloud just nodded, causing Tifa to hit her forehead and shook her head in defeat. "You just don't get it…" the martial artist mumbled under her breath as they walked to the lobby to get something to drink.

* * *

Lucrecia watched from the Lifestream as two souls mingled with each other, as if they never wanted to let go.

And her spirit rejoiced, for the man who she loved was finally whole.

**The End**

* * *

Author's notes: Wow, this turned much longer that I first expected it to be.  
Oops, I just realized that I really didn't give any clues of when this  
happened, so I'm saying in here that in the game, this took place in that  
long boring time when you develop your characters before going to the crater  
to fight Sephiroth. Reviews will be greatly appreciated. 


End file.
